Kamado Asaki didn't follow the direction he'd come from, but, according to Black Fang's memories, took a small path.
At the end of the small path, one could also leave Shiqiao Town. After walking quickly for a while, Asaki stopped, because he saw a house that was both familiar and unfamiliar.
This was Black Fang's old home. After Black Fang became a demon, driven by his subconscious, he came back.
Unfortunately, Black Fang's parents happened to be home. When he saw Black Fang, his father—who had been searching for him for several days—stepped up and slapped Black Fang, knocking his head to the side.
Then Black Fang's father crouched down and hugged Black Wolf Fang, choking up as he said, "You little brat, where did you run off to? Do you know how worried we were?"
"From now on, you're not allowed to go up the mountain alone. If you want to play, your father will go with you."
Black Fang's head rested on his father's shoulder. He felt this person was very familiar to him, and also made him feel at ease.
But what attracted Black Fang even more was the fragrance of flesh and blood on this person.
He opened his mouth to bite down, but a faint, remaining, inexplicable feeling made him hesitate and struggle.
While he hesitated, blood suddenly splattered all over Black Fang's face.
Black Fang stiffly turned his head. His father's headless body still kept the posture of hugging him.
At this moment, Kibutsuji Muzan appeared before Black Fang. In his hand were the heads of Black Fang's parents.
"Black Fang, you're very hungry, having just become a demon, right? Here, this is food prepared for you. Eat."
Struggle flickered again and again in Black Fang's eyes, but after more than twenty seconds, the remaining humanity completely vanished. Black Fang pounced on his father's corpse, bared his fangs, and tore viciously.
Kibutsuji Muzan watched at the side and let out a light laugh: "Black Fang, I look forward to your growth."
Then Kibutsuji Muzan vanished again, merely waiting for an appropriate chance to summon Black Fang to do his bidding.
...
Looking at the old house, so dilapidated it was unrecognizable, Asaki pushed open the already somewhat rotten wooden door, shaking up a ring of dust.
"Under the yard at Black Fang's home, there seems to be a fairly large wine cellar."
"His whole area has been abandoned for a long time, and no one has come. If I hide here, Shinobu Kocho shouldn't notice, right?"
By conditions, Asaki would rather stay in the bear cave at Blue Mountain, but now that Shinobu had gone to investigate Blue Mountain, Asaki couldn't return there.
And now the sky was about to brighten. He definitely didn't want to be burned to death by the sun, so he decided to hide temporarily in the wine cellar at Black Fang's home.
Stepping over the broken tables and chairs strewn across the ground, Asaki slowly walked into the yard.
He searched for a while and, by the wall, found an inconspicuous iron cover.
Asaki gave it a gentle tug, but didn't pull it up. There was a keyhole on the iron cover, but after so long, where would Asaki go to find a key…
Taking a deep breath, Asaki hooked both hands on the edge of the iron cover and began exerting his full strength.
Bang
The old iron cover was pried up by his great force, revealing the stairs beneath it.
Asaki looked at his hands. The veins were already bulging.
He didn't need a mirror to know that he must look ferocious right now—at a glance, a demon.
"As long as I use full strength, I can't control my body, and I'll inevitably revert to a demon's appearance…"
Asaki adjusted for a while before restoring his body to a human appearance again.
Holding the iron cover in one hand, he walked into the wine cellar, then, from inside, yanked the iron cover down firmly, covering it again.
...
Like a purple butterfly dancing in flight, Shinobu moved at high speed among the branches of the trees on Blue Mountain.
Her toes lightly tapped a treetop, making the tip tremble slightly, and then she appeared ten meters away.
At such a speed, her gaze swept the ground, searching for every suspicious trace.
Very quickly, Shinobu discovered Black Fang's cave.
She floated down to the ground, placed her right hand on the sheath of her Nichirin Blade, and slowly walked into the cave.
Five minutes later, Shinobu walked out of the cave.
"The traces here were made very recently. It looks like two demons fought to seize territory."
"Only, did a new demon come to Blue Mountain?"
"The people of Shiqiao Town are truly plagued with misfortune. I have to find these two demons and kill them all."
Shinobu was about to leave, but a small mound of earth caught her eye.
Parting the grass, Shinobu found, on a patch of ground, the marks of turned soil.
"What's this?"
In the cave, Shinobu had also smelled the lingering stench of blood. She knew someone must have been killed by a demon—perhaps already eaten.
But right next to the demon's lair, there was actually a newly made, crude grave.
Shinobu was a bit surprised. She went into the cave again and carefully examined every trace. After coming out, she even walked a circle around the cave, unwilling to let any anomaly go.
After linking all the traces together, she seemed to have made a remarkable discovery.
It seemed a newly arrived demon had followed the scent of blood here, then defeated the evil demon that had originally existed on Blue Mountain.
But for some unknown reason, that new demon didn't eat the remaining human corpse after killing the demon. On the contrary, he had even buried the body.
What on earth was going on? Could such a demon really exist?
No, it's also possible I misjudged. Could it be that Master sent other Demon Slayer Corps members?
But as long as there's even a sliver of possibility—even a sliver—that a demon gave up eating people, and even took the initiative to compassionately bury the body,
then I absolutely must find that demon!
Shinobu blew a whistle and waited quietly on the spot.
Before long, she heard the hoarse caw of a crow.
"Gaa, gaa, gaa."
The Demon Slayer Corps' messenger crow arrived. It flew to Shinobu's shoulder and tilted its head to look at her.
At this time, Shinobu took out a slip of paper and wrote on it: "Master, did you send other demon hunters to Blue Mountain?"
"Or did a passing Demon Slayer Corps member slay the demon of Blue Mountain?"
After stuffing the note into the bamboo tube at the messenger crow's leg, Shinobu sent the crow into the air.
"Go. Bring me Master's reply."
This matter might be insignificant to other demon hunters.
But to Shinobu, it was a major issue that couldn't be ignored.
Shinobu's face always carried a gentle smile. Even when no one was beside her, she still smiled like that.
Because, before she died, her older sister had said that what she liked most was seeing Shinobu's gentle smile.
"Sister, maybe your ideal really can come true."
Shinobu very much wanted to hear her sister's reply, but in this nighttime forest, aside from the sound of wind and trees, and the occasional cries of birds and beasts, and insects, no one answered her.
"If Master only sent me to Blue Mountain, and there are no other passing Demon Slayer Corps members nearby, then my guess is very likely correct."
"Sister, I will verify and search one by one. If—if such a demon truly exists,"
"After confirming that he or she bears no demonic sins, I will do my best to become good friends with him or her."
"To be able to become friends with a demon, to be able to coexist peacefully with a demon—you would definitely be happy, Sister."
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